


A Place in Time

by RandyWrites



Category: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (2012-2013), Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Fluff, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2019-10-13 19:25:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17493830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandyWrites/pseuds/RandyWrites
Summary: Rairpair one-shot collection (can i get a whoop-whoop?)





	1. Chapter 1

When Dick had called asking for help in a case his ‘ _family_ ’ had been working on, Raven didn’t question it. When they had to break into Gotham University’s library in the dead of night for some arcane book that even Barbara hadn’t realized was hiding there, she gave them the benefit of the doubt. And even as Dick started carefully laying runes and Babs helped her to gather the needed materials to keep away from whatever  _villain de jour_ they were fighting over that book, she felt happy that she had been the first one they had thought to ask.

She should’ve known that Dick’s newest sibling would muck it all up.

To be fair, Tim had been working on his own case with Batman, and neither Dick nor Alfred had seen either of them in weeks.

And with runes placed all around the room, a witch who was enveloped in shadow, and what looked like Dick ready to sacrifice his favorite pet (when in reality Dick had been holding onto Ace to ensure he wouldn’t be a distraction), Raven couldn’t exactly blame Tim for charging in and thoroughly disrupting the enchantment she was trying to place on the house in preparation for a larger confrontation that was to take place.

No, she was going to place that blame squarely on Dick’s shoulders, and his  _excellent_  communication skills. 

Whatever she had actually ended up saying in the place of the incantation she had been practicing, was apparently coherent enough to open a portal to… somewhere.

Somewhere that happened to be right into the lap of… whichever Robin that had currently taken up the mantle.

With red hair cropped into a pixie, and green-tinted glasses, this was certainly no Robin she had had the pleasure of meeting before. No, this one certainly seemed to break the mold.

In more ways than one, Raven was starting to notice.

“Um, not that it isn’t fantastic having a beautiful girl drop into my lap, but,” Robin rubbed the back of her neck nervously, cheeks dusted with pink, “Um, who are you?”

Raven scrambled off of her, muttering apologies, accidentally knocking several books out of place, and spilling some coffee that this new Robin had been drinking before Raven had dropped in on her.

Not her best first impression, but Raven was big enough to admit she was never any good at those.

She took in the room around her then, and it looked… mostly the same to the one she had just been sucked out of.

“Is this… Wayne Manor?” she asked the Robin before her as they gathered up books together.

“Uh, yeah… Are you here to see the Boss?”

“The Boss?” Raven quirked an eyebrow at the girl.

“Y’know. Batman,” she put pointed her index fingers up on either side of her head to mimic the ears on his cowl, smiling in jest as she did so, “You look my age, though… What exactly do you want with him?”

“Nothing, actually. Look, I was working with Nightwing and Batgirl when-”

“Uh, wait time out.  _Batgirl_? Are you  _trying_  to pull my leg here?” Robin quirked an eyebrow of her own. Finally giving the girl a thorough look over, her eyes started widening in understanding.

“You’re… not from here, are you? As in, here and now?”

“I’m starting to think that might just be the case…”

…

It took a good hour of comparing notes and making sure that they struck that delicate balance between knowing too much and deciphering just enough to confirm that she had, indeed, landed in the future. They had agreed it was better not to see anyone who might recognize her from the past, and Raven had insisted the less she knew about everyone’s futures, the better.

But that didn’t stop Carrie from trying in the coming weeks as they researched ways to send her back.

It was little things. Like casually mentioning how Bruce missed his kids, and wished that they’d come by more often. Or accidentally referencing how long Bruce’s retirement had been compared to Nightwing’s or the Red Hood’s or… well, there were many others that Raven simply didn’t recognize. She seemed all the more hesitant to continue helping Raven with her research in sending her back to the past after doing some of her own research on Raven’s past… and future.

“You were a Titan,” Carrie brought it up after bringing them both desert to the library. Homemade fudge sundaes. Though, Raven could sense that the topic she was bringing up was going to be far from sweet.

She had been asking for Raven’s advice as she tackled her own college entrance essays and asked for plenty of help on her calculus homework. The American education system hadn’t changed much, and it seemed senior year was still just as stressful as ever for a teen who was staring their future in the face.

“I am… was. I was in the middle of moving to Gotham to start college,” Raven explained, “I’m going for something in pre-med. Not sure what yet-”

“You said you liked working with those kids, right?” Carrie asked, almost too eager. Raven smiled. Another one of her ‘not-hints’ about the future. She simply nodded as she took a bite from the sundae and flicked a ‘page’ over on the device they had been using. It seemed internet access was one constant that could be counted on in the future.

“You should do pediatrics, then,” she suggested. “I’m sure you’d be great..” That light dust of pink returned to her cheeks. “And uh, you could help tons of kids that way.”

“I’m sure I could…”

…

A rather compromising position, they had found themselves in. After having tripped over each other in a scramble for the same book, Carrie had landed on top of Raven and was much, much too close for comfort.

Not that Raven actually minded.

The crush Carrie had been developing had been painfully obvious, especially for an empath to pick up in such close quarters that they had been sharing. And she never really made much of an effort at stopping her own feelings from forming.

She leaned in closer, her eyes carefully watching Carrie’s as she did so. And eventually, Carrie met her the rest of the way. A short, sweet kiss.

And Raven began to wonder what she was really going to do about all of this.

It was called a crush for a reason, right?

…

It was a similar scene to what had transpired a few weeks before. Runes laid around the room, the same book, even more worn with age and missing several pages. But everything was in place to send Raven back to where she belonged.

“Is it… selfish that I kind of want you to stay?” Carrie asked, tears in the corners of her eyes.

Raven could feel that same sadness overwhelming her as well, but she was not afraid to let the tears fall.

Like it or not, this mutual crush was merely that. A crush. Something that would eventually hurt them both in the end if they even tried to carry it further than this odd friendship that had been struck.

Although they had already started to compromise even that…

With resolve in her heart, Raven made the promise that she knew would be the easiest one to keep.

“We’ll see each other again, Carrie. It won’t be the same but… I promise it’ll be sooner than you think.”

…

When the incantation ended, Raven watched the future dissolve away, and slowly she faded out as well.

Only to wake up in a guest room in Wayne Manor, none other than Dick Grayson at her bedside.

“Raven, are you okay? You’ve been… flickering… like a ghost, for hours now!”

She grabbed onto Dick’s arm urgently then. “You’re not going to believe this…”


	2. Chapter 2

Carrie titled her head carefully at the sound. Bellowing and echoing, the whistle of a train cutting through the night like an old, worn knife.

She turned to the empath that shared this bed with her, running soft fingers through her long black hair.

“There’s no trains in Gotham,” she said suddenly, watching as Raven raised a quizzical, skeptical eyebrow at her. She laughed, explaining further, “In the future, I mean. All of that boom tube technology? Way better at moving things. There’s still the monorails and the subways, but old school trains? With whistles like that?…”

They sat a moment in the silence of the hotel room, listening to the train’s whistle as it was carried far away into the night, and eventually faded away with the distance.

In the dull orange glow of a bedside lamp, Raven took a more careful look at the girl who had slowly won her heart over the past month. Her hair had grown out a bit, more prone to settling in front of her eyes, and getting  _very_  shaggy at the nape of her neck. She currently wore one of Raven’s (in her words ’ _totally retro_ ’) band t-shirts as PJs, the empath herself using a similar one in the same manner.

She ran one of her own long fingers through the Robin’s short (well, short-ish) hair, mumbling another admonishment about getting a haircut soon. Until Carrie cut her off with another change in subject.

“Wait, you  _failed_  history?” the empath asked, incredulous. And just like that, her concern for the Robin’s hair care was forgotten.

“No, I  _almost_  failed history. Passed at the last minute with an 84 on the final, and a 70 average,” Carrie smiled, pleased with herself, “That’s a C-minus, you know. This Robin is  _below_  average!”

“Remind me again,” she laughed, “how you convinced us all that you were from the future, then?”

“If I remember right, no one asked me to  _flat out prove it_. I think I just kept guessing which Robin was wearing the mask in this time until, well…”

“That’s right,” the empath chuckled lightly again, “What did Gar call it? Giving us too many  _spoilers_ -?”

“Who  _also_  becomes a Robin  _eventually_ -”

“Love-”

“I know, I know.  _Spoilers_ ,” Carrie sighed, running a frustrated hand through her shaggy red hair again. Raven reached for her hand as she settled back into the pillows.

“Love. You  _really_  need to consider getting a haircut.”


	3. Couch Cuddles

While Carrie usually preferred other consoles, even she could admit that playing on an original  _Gamestation_ , back in its prime, was pretty neat.

The graphics were laughably horrible and it certainly wasn’t helping matters that one of the Titans had clearly broken the d-pad on most of the controllers. But it was interesting, nonetheless. She’d been counting down the days alongside Gar and Vic, for when  _DeathMach IV_  would be released.

“The  _twelfth_  was the best, but ‘ _Four’_  is a classic!” she explained, hands waving excitedly as she passed the controller along to Gar, tapping him in for the next round. “It’s the one that  _finally_  introduced-”

“Slow down there,  _Care-bear_ , no spoilers!” Vic said, shushing her before turning attention back to the game, and completely crushing Gar in the process.

“For the game or for the future?” she asked, crossing her arms in frustration.

“ _Both_!” the duo cried as Vic gained the upper hand, winning the match yet again.

“Shyeah.  _Figure_ ,” she sighed, getting up off the couch and stretching for a moment. “Gonna see if the boss needs anything. Be back. As in  _later_.”

They each their own goodbyes over their shoulders, and Gar waited an extra second after hearing that electrical hiss of the door shutting behind her.

“Dude, don’t get me wrong. But slang in the future  _sucks_.”

Vic only nodded in agreement as they flipped through the character select screen again for a new match-up.

…

Of course, Carrie wasn’t actually concerned with finding Dick. That was only an excuse to hunt down another Titan.

A Titan that she had grown very, very close to in the past few weeks.

A Titan that she knew, more than likely, would be camped out on the roof watching the city’s skyline while enjoying a quiet moment away from the rest of the team.

She nearly jumped out of her own skin, when the roof access door opened a split-second before she laid her hand on it.

“ _HOLY_ \- Oh! Oh, hey Donna! Um,” she gulped, “I was just- uh… I was-”

The amazon’s face split into a good-natured smile as she rested a hand on the future girl wonder’s shoulder. “You’re looking for Raven.”

’ _Damn, she’s good_ ,’ Carrie thought, kicking herself for being read so easily.

“Yeah,” she admitted sheepishly, “Tried her room. Figure she’d be either meditating or reading in Ops. But Gar and Vic were already there so-”

“Have you tried the Rec?”

“Rec? That like the gym?” ’ _Am I Missing something here?_ ’

She hadn’t had the chance to explore every facet of the tower, but she understood enough to navigate most of it.

There were, however, entire sections and levels that remained curious mysteries to her.

“Sort of,” Donna laughed, “The Rec is more like an in-house spa. Great for PT, meditation. There’s fountains and pools that we use for, well,  _recreation_  rather than training. She’s been sneaking off there to read more often lately.” She pointed down the hall with her thumb, jerking her head with the movement. “I’ll show you the way. The Tower’s a maze. It’s a  _wonder_  none of us have gotten hopelessly lost.”

…

Sure enough, just like Donna had predicted, there the empath was, spread across a love-seat that seemed a tad impractical given its setting.

But then again, no one ever said the Teen Titans were great decorators.

Carrie snuck her way carefully onto the love-seat with the Titan, forcing her girlfriend to push herself against the cushions in an attempt to make more room for the smaller girl. She eventually settled for wrapping her arms around Raven’s torso, mostly settling atop her instead of beside her. When she found a comfortable position, head resting just below the empath’s as one foot dangled just slightly off the corner, Raven let one of her hands make mindless circles along Carrie’s back as she continued reading.

The book was now enveloped in her aura and drifting a bit above their heads, staying that way for a minute or two longer before it drifted back down to rest on another lounge chair across from them.

“I take it you got on Victor and Garfield’s nerves? Or ticked off Dick about something?” Raven hummed.

“No, I was just missing you,” the Robin said cheekily, “And wanted to come get on  _your_  nerves.”

“You’d be hard-pressed to do that, love,” she said, pressing a light kiss against Carrie’s forehead.

“Lucky I’m stubborn enough for it, then,” she smiled back, sighing as she held the empath a little tighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> request from my tumblr (@dyketectivecomics) feel free to hmu bc requests are usually always open lol


	4. We've Got a Mystery Scoob

" _CSI: Jump City_?" The empath couldn't hold back her smile as she questioned the Robin of Tomorrow, "Don't you get tired enough of solving, well...  _real murders_?"

"I won't shiv, it takes awhile for the game to pick up, but it's the  _hottest_  thing where- er,  _when_  I'm from." Carrie reached for Raven's hand, giving the Titan a gentle squeeze before tugging on it. A signal and a promise of fun as she pulled her up along those hallowed steps.

The public library was hosting an after-hours murder mystery lock-in, and Raven had reluctantly agreed to the date. She had a vague hope that since it was in familiar territory, it would be less emotionally taxing as other first date venues usually would be. So far, with a fairly empty parking lot greeting the duo, that seemed to be the case.

" _Augmented reality,_  though?" She asked, letting playful skepticism drip with each word, "What? Was hiring an actor to sit in a pool of red dye and corn syrup  _too expensive_?"

"Oof, don't even get me started on the AR bugs you  _Gellenial Zeroes_  had to deal with." The Robin gave a quick flash of a smile before she turned away in thought. "Or... wait, are you and the Titans actually just  _Millennials_  or-?"

"Let's worry about the murder first,  _then_  about how badly you failed history, hmm?" She gave her own squeeze of the Robin's hand before they slipped through the doorway, a couple of librarians greeting them at their entrance and directing the heroes where they needed to be.

Raven took a moment to remind herself to thank Victor and Dick later, for talking her out of the slacks and dress shirt outfit she and Kory originally planned out together. The environment around them was certainly much too casual. Most of the librarians had donned some form of costume for the event, mostly police uniforms or lab coats, but the patrons around them were in a more general mix of jeans and a sea of graphic tees.

"Nerds. Nerds everywhere," Carrie whispered to her date under breath, and Raven let a snort loose despite herself. The Girl Wonder certainly had no room to poke such fun, what with her own bright red  _Flash_  shirt barely concealed by her forest green flannel.

Formal  _or_  nerd wear aside, Raven still stood out like a sore thumb, sporting a light blue gingham dress with plain flats. She could feel the heat of everyone's curiosity on her back as she signed herself in. Whispered words and speculations as one of the coordinators handed the pair their souvenir ' _CSI badges_ '.

"She looks kinda like-"

"- _doesn't_  wear her hair in a  _braid_ -"

"-be caught  _dead_  in a dress.. right?"

"Hey," Carrie took hold of the empath's hand again, shocking her out of everyone else's emotions and right into her date's instead. A hint of nervousness, a warm, electric layer of excitement, and a thrill of giddiness. "Let's kick everyone's butts at this! We  _do_  have an  _advantage_ , y'know."

Raven let a dawning smile grow as she nodded back. "An almost  _unfair_  advantage, when you think about it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> request from tumblr (@dyketectivecomics).  
> comments & kudos much appreciated, feel free to drop a line or more requests at the blog


	5. University

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> for carrierae weekend, day one

“I love you, darling,” Raven said, peeking over the top of her book at her girlfriend, “But if you don’t stop humming that  _bone song_ , I’ll be tempted to threaten you with violence.”

“By saying that, aren’t you still threatening violence?” Carrie grinned. Her calculus homework took up most of the table they occupied, a corner of the campus library secluded enough to offer relative quiet, in lieu of taking over one of the study rooms. It seemed cruel to rent the space for hours at a time, when it was usually just the two of them studying together.

“Oh ho ho, is someone thinking of finally declaring a pre-law major?” Raven asked, flipping the next page in her anatomy book. She still hadn’t found the right passage she wanted to site. If her professor insisted on using just an outdated text, she’d throw it right back in his face, with a vengeance. 

Carrie made a face, a twist of distaste and loathing. “I have all I can do to pass most of my classes this semester, babe. I’ll worry about declaring in the fall, thanks.”

“You’re going to have to decide sometime, love. The future won’t wait forever.” 

Silence filled the space as Carrie took a careful sip of coffee from the thermos she brought in. Raven continued flipping pages in quiet, but no longer took in the words as her eyes scanned them.

What an odd and wondrous thing to think about, after all. The future.


	6. "You're my new pillow."

The Robin let out a groan before falling onto the bed, the empath already sitting upon it giving her own exclamation as a stray hand hit her on the forehead.

“Ow,” she mumbled, rubbing at the spot as Carrie supplied apologies.

“Patrol was the pits, babe. I’m burned,” she flipped from lying on her back to her side, inching closer to the Titan and resting her head on top of others stomach then. Had her eyes been open, they would’ve met wide indigo ones staring down at her.

“You’re… my new pillow,” she mumbled decidedly, “You’re just squishy enough for it.”

Raven gave a scoff and a chuckle that had Carrie’s head bouncing for a moment. 

“I have a feeling like I should take offense to that… But if it’ll get you to rest finally…”

“Ain’t no rest for the wicked, babe,” she yawned. 

Raven clicked her tongue as she seemed to mull over the phrase.

“No… No, I suppose there isn’t-”

“Wait,  _wait_ , hold up,” Carrie waved a hand. “What year is it again? Please tell me you’ve heard that song-”

“I thought I made it clear, love. I hardly pay attention to specific songs or artists or-”

“But it’s  _Cage the Elephant_ , Rae! It’s  _classic_ -”

“Coming from a time traveler, I’ll take that to mean it’s supposed to be  _current-_ ”

“Unbelievable. Unappreciated in their own damn time.” Carrie picked up her head a moment, as if she were about to reach for something, then thought better and laid her head back down on the Titan’s stomach.

“Remind me tomorrow to teach you all about the music you’re  _clearly_  missing out on in these golden years, okay?”

Raven began running her fingers through Carrie’s hair as she replied, “Sure, love. Just as soon as you remember what  _has_  and  _hasn’t_  been released yet.”


End file.
